Table 2.
Multivariate hazard ratios (HR) for overall, breast cancer-specific, disease-free, and distant disease-free survival
| Overall survival | Breast-cancer-specific survival | Disease-free survival | Distant-disease-free survival | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HR | 95 % CI | p-value | HR | 95 % CI | p-value | HR | 95 % CI | p-value | HR | 95 % CI | p-value | |
| Final Model (without CTC presence): | ||||||||||||
| Age | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0.96 | 0.94 – 0.99 | 0.007 |
| Tumor stage | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.001 | 0.001 | ||||||||
| T2 vs. T1 | 1.43 | 0.92 – 2.21 | 0.11 | 1.70 | 1.04 – 2.78 | 0.03 | 1.21 | 0.86 – 1.69 | 0.27 | 1.35 | 0.90 – 2.03 | 0.15 |
| T3 vs. T1 | 1.97 | 0.95 – 4.08 | 0.07 | 2.78 | 1.29 – 5.97 | 0.01 | 1.35 | 0.73 – 2.50 | 0.35 | 1.22 | 0.56 – 2.65 | 0.62 |
| T4 vs. T1 | 9.33 | 4.01 – 21.69 | <0.001 | 9.98 | 3.92 – 25.40 | <0.001 | 5.25 | 2.35 – 11.73 | <0.001 | 6.88 | 2.62 – 18.06 | <0.001 |
| Nodal stage | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||||||
| N1 vs. N0 | 1.49 | 0.91 – 2.45 | 0.11 | 1.85 | 1.08 – 3.18 | 0.03 | 1.53 | 1.03 – 2.27 | 0.03 | 2.17 | 1.32 – 3.57 | 0.002 |
| N2 vs. N0 | 1.69 | 0.92 – 3.10 | 0.09 | 1.80 | 0.92 – 3.50 | 0.09 | 1.90 | 1.18 – 3.06 | 0.01 | 3.35 | 1.89 – 5.96 | <0.001 |
| N3 vs. N0 | 6.66 | 3.57 – 12.42 | <0.001 | 8.59 | 4.42 – 16.68 | <0.001 | 6.65 | 3.98 – 11.10 | <0.001 | 10.76 | 5.82 – 19.89 | <0.001 |
| Hormone receptor status | ||||||||||||
| pos vs. neg | 0.31 | 0.20 – 0.46 | <0.001 | 0.27 | 0.16 – 0.43 | <0.001 | 0.35 | 0.25 – 0.49 | <0.001 | 0.32 | 0.22 – 0.46 | <0.001 |
| Her2 status | ||||||||||||
| pos vs. neg | 0.59 | 0.36 – 0.95 | 0.03 | 0.58 | 0.35 – 0.96 | 0.04 | 0.70 | 0.48 – 1.02 | 0.06 | - | - | - |
| Grading | - | 0.21 | - | - | ||||||||
| G2 vs. G1 | - | - | - | 4.85 | 0.66 – 35.49 | 0.12 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| G3 vs. G1 | - | - | - | 5.71 | 0.78 – 41.80 | 0.09 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Menopausal status | ||||||||||||
| post vs. pre | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.66 | 0.92 – 2.99 | 0.09 |
| Addition of CTC presence | ||||||||||||
| CTCs | ||||||||||||
| pos vs. neg | 1.38 | 0.91 – 2.11 | 0.14 | 1.39 | 0.88 – 2.20 | 0.17 | 1.19 | 0.84 – 1.69 | 0.34 | 1.34 | 0.89 – 2.02 | 0.17 |
Shown is the final model (Cox proportional hazards regression model, without CTC presence) after backward selection (see text), and the parameter estimates, as well as the significance of the change when CTC presence (yes/no) was added to the model. Please note that the addition of CTC presence did not significantly improve model fit for any of the four analyzed survival endpoints